The Phoenix
by ramonasxflowers
Summary: Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter's school years after the fantastical incident that ruined Lily and Severus's relationship were at first tense, but Lily noticed that, without Severus's blinders on, the Marauders weren't as wretched human beings as she'd been led to believe. They were just that: human beings, just like her. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't unusual for James to spot Lily in the middle of a crowd of Slytherin students. Her and them, they were always getting into fights. Lily usually won those fights because 1) bigoted Death Eater wannabes weren't as clever as she was, 2) she was one of the best witches in the entire school, only 9 people could get the jump on her, and only 5 were teachers, 3) she had rage on her side. Lily Evans was not one to take bullying lightly, especially when the threat could always be real. And, it _was_ real for her. Luckily for James, though, she always fought back.

There were rare occasions that Lily Evans could not handle the attacks. Like today.

James was strutting (however, he was trying to stop. It had become a nasty habit he was trying to kick, trying to use that tool to make Lily think he was cool was not working, he had discovered.) out of the Great Hall towards the Gryffindor common room when he hear them. There was shouting and jeering and laughing. He figured he would have to go check it out. When he turned the corner and spotted what all of the commotion was about: Lily was floating upside down in the centre of a small group of Slytherins, trying to keep her knickers from being exposed.

"Evans!" James shouted, jogging over to the group. "D'you need help?"

Lily looked at him for a split second before shaking her head. He nodded and began to turn around, intending to stay close just in case she needed him. He hadn't even had the chance to turn the corner when he heard a girl say, "My arm's getting tired. Have a nice fall, mudblood."

Lily just began to fall when James lifted his wand and shouted, "Arresto Momentum!" Lily softly landed on the ground, then stood up, grabbing her wand off of the ground and fixing her skirt. James stood next to her and kept his wand raised.

"Leave," Lily growled. The group began to scramble, but Lily tapped on one of the girl's shoulders. When she turned around, Lily grabbed a fistful of her shirt. "Oh, and another thing-" Lily raised her hand, drew it back, and punched the girl in the nose. "You bark," she threatened, dropping the girl o the ground, "I _bite_."

Lily turned and grabbed James's arm, walking away. Behind them, the girl shouted, "You'll regret that, Evans!" James turned and saw that she was holding her nose, blood dripping onto the floor.

James looked down at Lily, realising she was hanging onto his arm with both hands and gripping tightly. "Lily? Are you alright?" Lily looked like she was about to nod a 'yes', but she moaned and dropped his arm, ran about 3 feet, and collapsed, the contents of her stomach spilling out onto the ground.

James crouched down next to her and pulled her dark red hair away and rubbed her back. "Sorry," she grumbled hoarsely, sitting back on her heels and wiping her forehead. "They spun me a lot. It took everything not to lose it in front of them."

"Are you okay, Lily?" He asked after a second, standing. She nodded and pushed herself up, hanging onto his arm for balance. He guided them back to the common room.

"Lily," she whispered. "You called me Lily."

James stared down at her, squinting. "That's your name, 'innit?" He smiled, his hand moving to his hair. Lily's eyes followed the movement and rolled, realising what he was doing.

"Why do you do that, anyway?"

"Huh?" His eyebrows scrunched. "Do-do what?" his hand fell, and he, too, figured what she was saying. "Oh. Yeah, I... I dunno, actually..." He chuckled and sat them onto the couch. Lily stood after a minute of silence.

"I'm gonna turn in," She smiled. Right before she climbed the stairs to the girl's dormitory, she turned and looked at James. "Thank you. For everything." Lily sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time, James watching her disappear. He smiled to himself.

"That's why," he mumbled to himself, pushing himself off of the couch and heading up the stairs to his room. "That's why I'm mad for you, Lily."

* * *

**That's chapter one! So, I hope you all liked it. I've kind of gotten tired of all of the stories that James swoops in and saves Lily because Lily is a helpless girl who can't do anything for herself. Honestly, that ****_isn't Lily._**** So... Yeah! I hope you liked it! Comment, review, do whatever!**


	2. Chapter 2

Lily had noticed that, since the accident the previous week, James was always near her. He would always walk somewhat close, but not obviously close to her in the halls. But maybe that's how it'd always been, Lily just hadn't noticed.

What she had noticed, however, was that she was ambushed by an Evan Rosier the day James Potter was locked in detention.

Rosier kept drenching her with water out of his wand. "Maybe this'll clean that dirty blood of yours," he said. He kept spraying her until she was soaked. "I guess it didn't work. Maybe we'll try again later, eh _Water Lily?_" He smirked, as if it was the best possible pun he could think of.

"Fuck off, Rosier," Lily spat. "You're a right nasty prick." Rosier's eyes glowed angrily as he stepped towards her. Quickly, Lily unsheathed her wand and cried, "Stupefy!" sending the boy down the hall and onto his ass.

Lily scooped her soggy books off of the wet ground and hustled out of the castle, on her way to Hagrid's. Light snow flurries dusted the sky and Lily shivered, her pace quickening.

On her way, she passed Remus Lupin. He was leaning against the railing and staring out into the valley. She glanced at him for a moment and decided that Hagrid would have to wait a little longer.

"Remus," she inquired. "Remus, are you alright? You look dreadful." Remus turned and looked her over. He sighed in annoyance and turned back to his view.

"Who was it this time? Avery? Malfoy? _Black?_" He spat the name of his best friend's demented cousin. Bellatrix Black was Lily's absolute worse tormentor. Lily just sighed and leaned next to him._  
_

"Rosier, actually. And I was _just_ beginning to warm up to him!" Lily watched the corner of his mouth turn up a bit. "Are you feeling alright?"

Remus hung his head and paused a moment, pondering the question- or possibly his answer. "I will be. Just a bit under the weather is all." Lily smiled at him, leaning into him slightly. Remus flinched at her temperature.

"Merlin, Lily! You're ice cold!" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rubbed, trying to create some heat before he could walk her back inside the castle. When he tried to turn her around, she remained in her spot.

"I have to go to Hagrid's," she said through chattering teeth. "I'm doing an assignment on dragons and I need help." Remus just watched her. "We're having tea," she added.

Remus released her cautiously. "Don't stay out too late. Promise me."

"I promise, Remus," Lily agreed, turning and jogging to Hagrid's.

* * *

Lily forgot her promise. She had gotten caught up in he assignment and hadn't noticed until the full moon was risen high in the sky. After she bid farewell to Hagrid and packed her things, she rushed back towards the castle.

Lily heard whimpers in the forest near her, and was afraid somebody may have been hurt. She drew her wand and cautiously walked into the forest.

"Hello?" She called. The whimpering immediately halted. Lily expected words to follow, but nothing came. Suddenly she heard something dash behind her. Lily was spinning and spinning, trying to figure out what was happening.

Then she stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart nearly stopped when she figured it out, though she raised her wand higher. Lily was so spun around, she had no clue where the castle was. She was being circled by a large animal. She was its prey.

Lily sprinted away from the circling animal, however she could hear it following her. She decided she would have to face it at some point, so she skid to a stop and turned around, her wand raised.

She could barely let a spell escape her lips before she was knocked to the ground of the forest, the breath knocked out of her and he head smashed to the ground. She was dizzy and disoriented. With a stabbing pain, she felt something latch onto her ankle and start dragging her away. Lily frantically felt around for her wand, but she never found it. She began shrieking, the ice cold fear that she could be dead by morning.

Finally, she felt the pressure on her leg release, and running on pure adrenaline now, she scrambled up and began limping away quickly. She heard a struggle behind her, but she was too afraid to watch what was happening. It only sounded like a dogfight.

"Lily!" She heard someone call. She didn't want to stop running, she was too scared. "Lily, stop! Lily!"

Lily felt arms wrap around her torso and pull her to a stop. "Let me go, we have to go!" She sobbed. Her adrenaline had quickly burned away and she was swimming in fear and throbbing pain.

"Lily, it's okay," he whispered. "Lily, I'm right here, you're all right." He turned her around so she could see him in the dim moonlight. James, wild eyed and messy hair, in all his glory. In a swift movement, he took her wrist and draped her arm over his shoulder, placing his other arm around her waist, and supported her through the forest.

The last thing Lily could recall about that night was the way the moon bounced off of James's curls, and his quick breaths as he carried the both of them through that dangerous forest.

* * *

Lily woke up alone in the Hospital wing. She was foggy and confused. She saw a curtain move across the room, and Remus emerged, looking worse than the day before. He was covered in cuts and bruises. Lily remained in her position as Remus came and sat next to her. He never looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. Lily pushed herself into a sitting position and gained his attention. He still wouldn't look her in the eyes. His shoulders slumped and his head bowed, an expression which Lily could only read as guilt. But why would Remus have to feel guilty?

"Remus, what do you mean?" She asked softly, trying to lift his face. Remus looked away, only turning back when her hand rested in he lap, defeated.

"You'll hate me when I tell you, Lily."

Lily stared at him, confused. "Remus, I could never hate you. You're too good. I save my hate for people who want to hurt me."

"But, Lily, I _have_ hurt you."

"Did you mean to?"

"Never!" He cried, eyes wide.

Lily smiled. "Then I don't hate you. So you don't have to tell me. In fact, you can help me." Lily held her arm out and Remus bowed his head. He quickly ducked under it and helped lift her out of the bed. Her ankle was broken, almost healed, but still wrapped. Remus let her go at a pair of crutches and sat back down. She leaned them under her arms and smiled down at him. "You've made up for whatever you've done. Now, please, go lay down. We need you better, okay?" She ran a hand own the back of his hair and hopped out on her crutches.

She continued down into the Great Hall, hoping somebody would be there for study period and talk to her.

Lily don't expect James to actually run into her when she opened the door.


End file.
